Prosecutors: Teen was not triggerman

Wednesday

Sep 11, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 11, 2013 at 10:02 AM

Jim Cohee was last seen by a friend at a grocery in a good spirits as he was going on a date.

Later that night, the 68-year-old Mapleton man was murdered in a botched attempt to steal thousands of dollars from his home in Lake Camelot, prosecutors told a Peoria County jury Tuesday at the start of a trial for one of his assailants.

Andy Kravetz

PEORIA - Jim Cohee was last seen by a friend at a grocery in a good spirits as he was going on a date.

Later that night, the 68-year-old Mapleton man was murdered in a botched attempt to steal thousands of dollars from his home in Lake Camelot, prosecutors told a Peoria County jury Tuesday at the start of a trial for one of his assailants.

Cotter was 16 at the time of the shooting, but the murder counts made the case an automatic transfer to adult court.

Also charged is Devon C. Moore, 18, who like Payne, is awaiting trial. Cotter and Moore are being tried on the theory they are as legally responsible - and therefore, just as guilty - as Payne.

Mark Rose, Cotter's attorney, urged the jury to listen to all the evidence and to remember that his client was presumed innocent. The state, he said, had to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Cohee's friend, who lives in Glasford, testified Tuesday that he saw him about 3 p.m. Aug. 25 at the Kroger store on Sterling Avenue. The two had been friends for years as Cohee used to teach his son industrial arts at Illini Bluffs and was also a part-time bus driver. Cohee, he said, was open about his relationship with Payne.

The two had been seeing each other for a while, and Patton told jurors that Cohee would often pay for her to stay at a motel or, when his wife was out of town, as was the case that weekend, the two would meet at his house.

Patton told jurors Payne had schemed with Moore and Cotter to rob Cohee because he had bragged to her about having hundreds of thousands of dollars in a safe in his house. The plan was to spike his drink, knock him out and then ransack the house, Patton said; but for some reason, the plan didn't work, and Cohee realized he was being drugged.

Moore and Cotter were across the street waiting in a field, with latex gloves and a spare change of clothing, for Payne to give the signal for them to come into the house. Instead, Patton said, Cotter told police he heard a gunshot and then Payne waved them into the home.

Payne, Patton told jurors, had put a pillow over Cohee's head and shot him once in the head. Cotter told police in a video statement given last year that he entered the master bedroom and saw Cohee lying on the bed. Cohee wasn't moving and was bloody, he told a Peoria County Sheriff's detective.

For three hours, the trio went through Cohee's home, taking guns, jewelry, money and rings, including one off his finger. They then took his truck and drove to Peoria. The pillow, guns and other items were dumped in the woods near the animal shelter in the North Valley. The truck was left near the Army Corps of Engineers' facility at Detweiller Marina.

Police zeroed in on Payne first and were able to trace her cellphone to a home at 124 NE Rock Island Ave. There, they also arrested Moore. They later arrested Cotter at his mother's house.

A former girlfriend of Cotter also testified they were walking in a Walmart days after the slaying when Cotter told her what happened. Her tearful testimony matched in large part what Cotter told police.

If convicted, Cotter faces at least 20 and possibly up to 60 years in prison. The trial is expected to be finished by week's end.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz.